Gerda Peterich Papers

An inventory of her papers at the Syracuse University Archives

Summary

Creator:

Peterich, Gerda

Title:

Gerda Peterich Papers

Dates:

1920-1990

Size:

30 boxes and 7 oversize packages
(23 linear feet)

Abstract:

The Gerda Peterich Papers include
photographs and negatives, writings, printed matter, and other material relating to her
career as a photographer of dance and architecture as well as art history lecturer and
Photographic Archives director at Syracuse University.

Biography

Gerda Peterich (1906-1974) was a lecturer in art history and director of the Photographic
Archives at Syracuse University from 1964 to 1968. During her career she was a
photographer of dances and dancers and a staff photographer for Dance Magazine. She was an associate in research at the George Eastman House
and was well known as a photographer of architecture, especially cobblestone
structures.

Gerda Anna Margarete Peterich was born in Munich, Germany, on March 9, 1906. Her mother
was a pianist, and her father was a sculptor and professor of fine arts. She had three
brothers and a sister, all gifted artistically. The family moved to Italy soon after
Peterich was born, seeking a more liberal atmosphere for the children. Peterich's
schooling took place in Germany where she studied at the Odenwaldschule from 1919 to
1922. She studied piano with Lili Kroeber-Asche at the State Conservatory of Music in
Stuttgart from 1930 to 1933. Despite her early interest in music, an injury to her
shoulder prevented her from pursuing a musical career.

In 1936 Peterich went to the island of Hiddensee to think through her interests in
gardening, architecture, and photography and to decide on her life's work. She returned
from her week of contemplation and announced that photography was where she would place
her major efforts. From the summer of 1937 through the winter of 1939 she studied
photography at the Photographische Lehranstalt des Lette-Vereins in Berlin and passed
the state examination cum laude. While in Berlin Peterich met and married Dr. Kurt
Robert Mattusch, Economic Counsellor for the U.S. State Department at the American
Consulate General.

In August 1939 Peterich and her lifelong friend Elisabeth (Lilly) Hoffmann sailed for
America on the next to last ship to leave Germany before World War II. Shortly
thereafter, Peterich and her husband separated.

Faced with the task of earning a living in an unfamiliar environment, Peterich
established a photographic studio at 332 West 50th Street in New York, where she
specialized in portraiture and dance. She also taught for two and a half years at The
School of Modern Photography. During the period from 1940 through 1946 Peterich made a
name for herself as a photographer of dance and dancers and became a staff photographer
for Dance Magazine. Among her subjects were Jose Limon,
Martha Graham, Pearl Primas, Jane Dudley, Ruth St. Denis, Jerome Robbins, Bambi Lynn,
Pearl Lang, and Hanya Holm. Peterich’s aim was "the interpretation of the dancer's
personality, the dancer's personal style, or a special dance." In 1950 she resumed
photographing dancers, but primarily with ballet, while her earlier work was with modern
dancers. While on the staff of Dance Magazine she also
worked freelance, doing magazine, commercial and portrait photography.

In 1946 Peterich accepted a position as visiting lecturer at Ohio University where she
also attended school. On August 7, 1948 she was awarded a BFA from Ohio. During this
period she became head of the department of photography.

In 1950 Peterich moved to Rochester, New York, and began working towards her master's
degree in fine arts at the University of Rochester, concentrating on the history of
architecture and the history of photography. The MA degree she received on June 7, 1957,
was the first in the history of photography as an art form to be granted in the United
States. Her thesis, "The Calotype in France and its Use in Architectural Documentation,"
combined her lifelong interests in architecture and photography.

While pursuing her master’s degree Peterich worked a variety of jobs. She again
freelanced as a photographer and documented the architecture of the Utica area for
Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute. In the summer of 1958 she co-chaired a four-day tour
of the Geneva/Rochester/Finger Lakes area and the Corning Glass Works with Harley McKee,
an architectural historian and professor at Syracuse University. Peterich also became an
Associate in Research at the George Eastman House, where she designed at least two
traveling exhibitions, one on the history of photography and the other on
nineteenth-century architectural photographs. Peterich was also a staff writer for Image, the Eastman House journal, and wrote a lead article
about the architectural exhibition in 1958.

While studying for her master’s degree, Peterich began researching and photographing
cobblestone architecture. In 1955 she created a circulating photograph exhibit,
"Cobblestone Architecture of Upstate New York," and presented a paper to the Central New
York chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians, which was subsequently
published in the Journal of the Society of Architectural
Historians (vol. 15, no. 2). She continued to photograph cobblestone
architecture for the rest of her life. In 1978 Syracuse University Press posthumously
published her book, Cobblestone Landmarks of New York
State. It notes, "Gerda Peterich's photographs are the soul of this
book...Brought up in an artistic environment, she learned the special qualities of stone
while watching her father at work in his studio and on long walks with him through the
countryside."

In 1957 the George Eastman House gave Peterich a retrospective show, entitled, "Twenty
Years of Photography." The show, which included portraits and images of dance, clouds,
water, wildflowers, cobblestone architecture and churches of Utica, New York, also
appeared at the Siembah Gallery in Boston in 1961.

During her New York City days Peterich shared an apartment with her childhood friend,
Lilly Hoffmann, who became a weaver of great distinction. In 1950 Hoffman purchased a
house in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, and in 1959 Peterich moved there to once again share
a home with her friend. In a 1959 Christmas letter she wrote, "...everything was
planning for New Hampshire. Through many years I spent my vacations there with my good
friend Lilly Hoffmann. I was beginning to grow roots here - it was what I had waited
for. And now I am here, loving it, happy, leading the creative life which is happiness.
As I write to you I sit in my studio which last year still was Lilly's barn, looking out
of my big window over our grounds which terminate in a granite stone wall, pine trees
beyond. There are tufts of snow on the ground and the sky is brilliantly blue."

After moving to New Hampshire Peterich lectured on fine arts at the New England College
in Henniker. She began work towards a Ph.D. in Fine Arts at Boston University in the
summer of 1961 and attended a seminar in American Architecture at Harvard University in
the summer of 1962. She was on leave in 1963-64 with a stipend to work on her Ph.D.

In a March 14, 1964, memorandum to Frank Piskor, Vice President for Academic Affairs at
Syracuse University, Laurence Schmeckebier, Dean of the School of Art, wrote, "While in
Baltimore I also met Gerda Peterich, a distinguished artist and photographer,...she is
German born and educated with a good historical and scholarly background." On May 11th
Peterich received a telegram offering her the position of lecturer in art history at
Syracuse University. Scheduled to teach one course on the history of art and one on the
history of photography, she was also to be director of the Photographic Archives at the
University. She accepted the position and was in Syracuse by September.

Shortly after her arrival an exhibit of Peterich’s work went on display at the Lowe Art
Gallery at the University. The exhibit grew out of a project commissioned by the Currier
Gallery of Art in Manchester, New Hampshire, to document the Victorian architecture of
the city and to awaken public awareness of the significance of its buildings.

Peterich also worked on a project documenting the architecture of Merrimack and
Hillsborough counties in New Hampshire. The project was completed in 1965, and the
negatives were deposited at the Library of Congress as part of the Historic American
Buildings Survey.

Gerda Peterich taught at Syracuse University until June 1968. She then returned to the
New Hampshire she loved and remained there until her death in July 1974.

Scope and Content Note

The Peterich Papers are arranged into four series: Personal Papers, Prints and
Negatives, Subject Files, and Additions. The collection is primarily visual in nature,
throughout all four series, and comprised mostly of photographic prints, negatives, and
transparencies. Of particular interest are the photographs and negatives of dancers in
New York City from 1940-1946 and 1950. This was an active period in modern dance, and
Gerda Peterich photographed most of the notable dancers of the time. The Peterich Papers
also include printed material, writings, notes, correspondence, and memorabilia.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:
Please note that the collection is housed off-site, and advance notice is required to
allow time to have the materials brought to the Reading Room on campus.

Use Restrictions:
Written permission must be obtained from Syracuse University Archives and all relevant rights holders
before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this
collection.

Related Material

Slideshows of Peterich's photographs may be viewed at the Syracuse University Archives'
online exhibition, “Dancing on Cobblestones: The Photography of Gerda Peterich”.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Gerda Peterich Papers, Syracuse University Archives

Acquisition Information

In 1979 Lilly Hoffmann donated the first segment of the Peterich Papers consisting of 2
boxes and 3 oversize packages. The bulk of the collection came from the George Eastman
House in Rochester, New York, in 1992. Materials relating to The Cobblestone Society
were donated by Dick Case in 2008.

Processing Information

Partially processed: most materials were placed in acid-free housing.

Arrangement

For the most part, the collection is arranged by and in order of donation. Since boxes 3
through 29, from the Eastman House, were already divided into Prints and Negatives and
Subject Files, Lilly Hoffman’s gift as well as some of the oversize packages were formed
into the Personal Papers series. The Addition series was created to accommodate
additional donations.